Natural Light Portrait BTS!

In this video, I take you behind the scenes for an outdoor natural light portrait session. I talk about all my settings and share my thought process along the way. This shoot deals with a multitude of different lighting scenarios and I demonstrate how by using a 5-in-1 Collapsible Light Reflector to help mitigate the light as well as use the light to my advantage you can get stunning results.

Often times, you’re confronted with circumstances that may not allow for perfect light, however that’s when you study your surroundings and figure out ways to make the most with what you’ve got. You don’t always need fancy strobes or speedlites to get professionally lit photos.

I can’t recommend enough how useful a 5-in-1 Collapsible Light Reflector can be – especially shooting outdoors. I use them for most of my portrait shoots and think it’s one of those lighting tools that is essential for any portrait photographer.

This extended video takes you on a portrait shoot with me. You see how I direct my model and use my surroundings and the reflector to get great results. I show you every photo on screen as it’s taken so you can see how my process works.

I love shooting with a shallow depth of field – especially for portraiture. For this shoot, I have my camera set to it’s native ISO which in the case of my Fuji X-Pro 1
is ISO 200. I’m shooting with the Fujinon XF35mmF1.4 R which is a 50mm equivalent. And I’m at f/2.0. That lens is super sharp, even at f/2.0. I love how the background gets so soft and bokehlicious giving really nice separation to my subject.